Elder Barton gave his family a challenge this week. I would also pass along this challenge to those who read his blog.
Okay so update for the week. I'll start on Wednesday since I e-mailed y'all on Tuesday.
So Wednesday I went on exchanges. I went to Copperfield with Elder Christensen and the day started off bad because I woke up and I had a stiff neck. I could not turn my head to the left without getting terrible pain, plus my head was tilting to the right a bit so I looked like a total dork! But the exchange went well. We tracted and taught a lesson to one of their investigators who is 14 (also found out yesterday that she got her answer to be baptized).
Then Thursday rolls around and it was a super weird feeling because that is my district's year mark, I mean one year ago I was entering the MTC, how crazy is that! So it was cool to see my Elders party it up. But it was weird not to party with them since I haven't hit my year mark. It was kind of depressing in a way, but not, if that makes sense :) Well, Elder Hill and I did our weekly planning and I finally got my "Preach My Gospel" manual laminated. We then taught a lesson to Edith, an RC (and later she finally got a job - she is stoked). We then met with Sister Stamps and taught her a lesson about why we have trials because she was having a super down day. Elder Hill and I then went.... can you guess it?....... Tracting! Woot woot! While we were tracting we came across a man. Elder Hill did an approach and this man right off the bat started to say how Mormons don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Well I pointed out on the Book of Mormon that it says"Another Testament of Jesus Christ" and Elder Hill opened up to a scripture saying that Jesus will be born of Mary and He will be called the Son of God. But the whole time this man kept saying "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ!" over and over again. Well, after like the 100th time this man said that, Elder Hill and I were getting frustrated and started telling him how he was rebuking Christ and he doesn't have the authority to rebuke anyway. But he goes on saying how the Bible is the only true word of God and that he doesn't discriminate against anyone. We went to leave because the spirit wasn't there, so Elder Hill went to go shake his hand and the man said "NO not while you are holding that Mormon book" so I went to shake his hand and he said "No you are a Mormon I will not shake your hand" and this was after he said he doesn't discriminate against anyone, but whatever. Oh also we were tracting again and I saw another man building a fence, so I went up to him and offered any help. He of course, declined, and I did my approach line and he asked if we were Mormons and I said we sure are, and then he says that all Mormons should be killed. He kept saying that we should all be shot because of what happened at the mountain meadows massacre. I tried to tell him that the church didn't support that, and also that Brigham Young didn't authorize that, and that those involved were excommunicated, but he kept saying we should be killed right to my face. But hey it's Texas what can you do right? Just gotta laugh it off and go knock on the next door.
Well, on Friday, we had district meeting and we were given new and exciting instruction for the whole mission. We have been told that we are to go and encourage members of the church to create profiles on http://mormon.org/ and also we are to study the website weekly by going on at least one hour each week, and this cannot be done on P-Day, so we can share it with non-members since the site will be changing often. We also are getting new pass-along cards to advertise the new site. So this is just saying a lot since we are getting an hour to be on the computers besides P-Day, so this is very important. So my challenge to you, family (Mom, Dad, Jessica, and Deanna), go onto http://mormon.org/ and make a profile! I hope to hear by next P-Day that y'all have done so. If you need additional info check out the January issue of the Ensign.
Well going on with the day, Elder Hill and I tracted most of the day till about 7:30 p.m. When we were driving down Highway 6 waiting on the left turn signal on West Little York. While we were waiting, Elder Hill and I were talking and out of nowhere *BAM* we are flying forward, our backpacks are going forward, our lose money is flying backwards, dust stuff is flying backwards. We were just rear ended! We get out of the car thinking that it was the guy behind us, but after doing a quick survey of the scene, I noticed it was actually the car behind him, so it was just a domino effect. So we make sure the guy behind us is okay. We then go to check on the guy behind him who was an old man, but when we asked him if he was okay he said that he didn't hit anyone..... Okay, well sir, look at the front of your car you hit someone.... "I didn't hit anybody" Sir come out and look at your car (The front said the whole story - it was jacked!) He comes out and says "it's a little crinkled" haha! Well I point out that his license plate is on the ground, but he claims that it wasn't his.... okay so the old man is drunk - fantastic. Well we tell everyone to pull off into the parking lot since we could all drive and didn't want to cause further traffic. We all do, except the old man picks up his license plate and drives off! But luckily y'all raised me to be a smart kid and I got his license plate number. In the end Elder Hill and I are okay and so is our car, Claire :) And I learned that I shouldn't judge so quickly like in the Hymn "Lord, I Would Follow Thee" it says "Who am I to judge another when I walk imperfectly?"
Well that's all for now, I am out of time. Hope y'all have a fantastic week and I love each of you!
Love, Elder Barton
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Email Update: January 18, 2011
Hey Family!
I am sad to say that I don't have much to tell you about because all Elder Hill and I have been doing is knocking doors all day everyday trying to invite people to learn more.
Oh and you might be wondering what happened to Del Dennis... well we just found out that he isn't in our ward boundaries he is actually in the Copperfield's ward boundaries which stinks since we have been teaching him and now we have to hand him over, but oh well.
But one cool experience did happen this week. We had an appointment to visit with Rhonda but we needed an 18 year old male to come with us and we were trying to figure out who to take then we thought about Juan who is 18 and investigating the church. I have never done this before, taking a non-member teaching with us to a non-member, but we thought we would try it out. So during the lesson we were asking Rhonda if she had read the BOM or prayed about getting baptized. And she gave her usual answer.....NO! So this made me frustrated so I didn't have the spirit, then Elder Hill was getting into it with Rhonda about how were are the only church who has authority to baptize but Rhonda disagreed so Elder Hill didn't have the spirit either. But out of no where Juan asked if he could share some scriptures with Rhonda and he immediately brought the spirit back so STRONG! And he calmed Rhonda down and Juan shared scriptures that applied to her and told her how he wasn't baptized yet but was planning on it. So it was so neat to see this connection between two non-members but Elder Hill and I got totally owned, which was ok with me, so that was a very memorable experience.
Well, yesterday on P-Day we played indoor soccer and I scored 6 goals and got 5 assists and my team won the Katy cock-a-doodle, woot, woot! haha Well I am super sore today and have a lot of doors lined up for me to knock on. Love y'all -Elder Barton
I am sad to say that I don't have much to tell you about because all Elder Hill and I have been doing is knocking doors all day everyday trying to invite people to learn more.
Oh and you might be wondering what happened to Del Dennis... well we just found out that he isn't in our ward boundaries he is actually in the Copperfield's ward boundaries which stinks since we have been teaching him and now we have to hand him over, but oh well.
But one cool experience did happen this week. We had an appointment to visit with Rhonda but we needed an 18 year old male to come with us and we were trying to figure out who to take then we thought about Juan who is 18 and investigating the church. I have never done this before, taking a non-member teaching with us to a non-member, but we thought we would try it out. So during the lesson we were asking Rhonda if she had read the BOM or prayed about getting baptized. And she gave her usual answer.....NO! So this made me frustrated so I didn't have the spirit, then Elder Hill was getting into it with Rhonda about how were are the only church who has authority to baptize but Rhonda disagreed so Elder Hill didn't have the spirit either. But out of no where Juan asked if he could share some scriptures with Rhonda and he immediately brought the spirit back so STRONG! And he calmed Rhonda down and Juan shared scriptures that applied to her and told her how he wasn't baptized yet but was planning on it. So it was so neat to see this connection between two non-members but Elder Hill and I got totally owned, which was ok with me, so that was a very memorable experience.
Well, yesterday on P-Day we played indoor soccer and I scored 6 goals and got 5 assists and my team won the Katy cock-a-doodle, woot, woot! haha Well I am super sore today and have a lot of doors lined up for me to knock on. Love y'all -Elder Barton
Monday, January 10, 2011
Email Update: January 10, 2011
On Monday we played Quidditch with our Zone and that was way fun. It was like ultimate frisbee but with goals you have to shoot the frisbee through. We then were invited by the Herrera's to go to Spring Creek Barbeque so we did and it was very yummy. Right after we got done we got a call from Brad Marshall (Father of Amber Marshall who we baptized when I was here with Elder Foster) saying that his Mom was taking down some Christmas decorations in their house when she did something to her back and couldn't move. An ambulance came and took her to the hospital and Brad wanted us to come give her a blessing. So we called a member, Brother Ravenburg, and asked if he could come with us. We waited for about an hour in that hospital and that place scared me. The scene I saw just in the waiting room was just horrific, words cannot describe the scene I saw. I saw so much sadness and physical pain I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could. I did not like the feeling there. But Elder Finlinson and Brother Ravenburg went to give Sister LeBlanc the blessing since they could only allow that many to go back. Turns out she had a herniated, bulging disc and she left the hospital 3 days later. That night I went on exchanges with my DL Elder Vehrs and I went to his area in Copperfield.
On Tuesday morning we went and helped a non-member move out of her house and this took forever! She didn't have anything boxed, she was being super rude, and she was smoking cigarettes like a chimney! We did this move with the help of our Zone Leaders and Bear Creek Elders. But our Zone Leaders Elders Beeman (who I took greeny tracting) and Blakeman and Elder Vehrs and I didn't finish till around 3:30 p.m and we had started helping her at 10:00 a.m. But after we finished Elder Vehrs and I, along with our Zone leaders, went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Since it was Tuesday and they do 50 cent wings and we ordered about 70 wings and the last 10 we ate were the Blazin' Wings which is the hottest they have and we were all dying. My lips burned the whole day and I was crying, but I wish I could have taken a picture of all of us because it was so funny. After that, Elder Vehrs and I rode our bikes the rest of the day and that day we had a HUGE rainstorm and lightning storm it was SO SO MUCH FUN riding in that rain. I got soaked but I loved it. Riding through that rain/lightning storm reminded me of Tennessee.
We tracted the next couple of days then on Saturday we got transfer calls and Elder Hill and I are both staying in Bear Creek for another 6 weeks. Then on Sunday Elder Hill gave a talk about can you guess...... missionary work! But we taught Dell Denis that night and had an awesome lesson with him
Sorry I had to fast forward at the end but I am running short on time. I love y'all and I love the missionary work :)
-Elder Cory Barton
On Tuesday morning we went and helped a non-member move out of her house and this took forever! She didn't have anything boxed, she was being super rude, and she was smoking cigarettes like a chimney! We did this move with the help of our Zone Leaders and Bear Creek Elders. But our Zone Leaders Elders Beeman (who I took greeny tracting) and Blakeman and Elder Vehrs and I didn't finish till around 3:30 p.m and we had started helping her at 10:00 a.m. But after we finished Elder Vehrs and I, along with our Zone leaders, went to Buffalo Wild Wings. Since it was Tuesday and they do 50 cent wings and we ordered about 70 wings and the last 10 we ate were the Blazin' Wings which is the hottest they have and we were all dying. My lips burned the whole day and I was crying, but I wish I could have taken a picture of all of us because it was so funny. After that, Elder Vehrs and I rode our bikes the rest of the day and that day we had a HUGE rainstorm and lightning storm it was SO SO MUCH FUN riding in that rain. I got soaked but I loved it. Riding through that rain/lightning storm reminded me of Tennessee.
We tracted the next couple of days then on Saturday we got transfer calls and Elder Hill and I are both staying in Bear Creek for another 6 weeks. Then on Sunday Elder Hill gave a talk about can you guess...... missionary work! But we taught Dell Denis that night and had an awesome lesson with him
Sorry I had to fast forward at the end but I am running short on time. I love y'all and I love the missionary work :)
-Elder Cory Barton
Monday, January 3, 2011
Email Update: January 3, 2011
OK so update for this week.
On Monday we had dinner at the Flores's and they made some really good steak and baked potatoes but then they made some bread pudding which I had mixed feelings about. It was good and not good at the same time then at 3 in the morning I threw up all of the bread pudding so I guess my body didn't like it.
We did a lot of tracting this week then on Thursday we tracted but something really neat happened one of Elder Hill's companions Brother Hurd and his family came back to visit the mission and this name is special because one of my friends from St. George her name is Brooke Hurd so I got to have dinner with them on Thursday so it was nice to see a friendly face but weird at they same time too.
Friday we had to be in early so we partied with sparkling cider and played Monopoly which I totally failed at. Saturday we tracted all day long but it was way fun! Also I offered to help this lady take down her Christmas lights and she actually let me, finally someone in Houston let me help them! She was Hispanic so I got to try out some of my Spanish and I told her we were missioneros from La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias so I felt pretty cool doing that. I got to speak Spanish twice to people on Saturday it probably wasn't good Spanish and probably didn't make sense at parts but they got what I was trying to say and for some reason the Spanish people love it when you try to speak their language.
I had a really spiritual experience last night. So it was around 7 p.m. and all of our appointments fell through so we decided to knock some doors. Elder Hill felt impressed to knock some doors on one side of this apartment complex. Elder Hill would do the bottom doors and Elder Finlinson and I would do the top doors (thought it would be best because we didn't want to scare people since it was late and there were 3 of us) But we are knocking and we are getting ITL's when I knock on this door and a guy answered and immediately slammed the door in our face. Elder Finlinson felt bad after this since we were waking up some people since it was late and he wanted to skip the last door on that floor since the lights were out so he starts heading down stairs. But I got the impression to knock on this door so I did and I see lights flick on and I prepared myself for the worst, fearing I might have woke up this person. Then a black man answers the door and I tell him that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we want to share a message about Him and our Heavenly Father and how they have provided a plan for us to live with our families forever and asked if he would be interested. And this man immediately let us in, so all of us go into this man's home and it turns out this man (Del Denis) is a member! He joined the church 15 years ago in Mississippi but "back slid" from the church. Then he moved to Houston and has attended churches like Church Without Walls and Kingdom Hall but never felt the way he did when he attended with the Latter-day Saints. Hefeels like since we knocked on his door this is his wake up call to "come back to his lost brethren" and we showed him The Restoration DVD and he loved it and we are going to visit with him and teach him the lessons again. But I am so grateful that I was able to be in tune with the spirit and find this man. I am so grateful that I am on my mission in the Texas Houston Mission and not at home where I could have missed this miracle.
Love y'all hope all is well.
-Elder Barton
On Monday we had dinner at the Flores's and they made some really good steak and baked potatoes but then they made some bread pudding which I had mixed feelings about. It was good and not good at the same time then at 3 in the morning I threw up all of the bread pudding so I guess my body didn't like it.
We did a lot of tracting this week then on Thursday we tracted but something really neat happened one of Elder Hill's companions Brother Hurd and his family came back to visit the mission and this name is special because one of my friends from St. George her name is Brooke Hurd so I got to have dinner with them on Thursday so it was nice to see a friendly face but weird at they same time too.
Friday we had to be in early so we partied with sparkling cider and played Monopoly which I totally failed at. Saturday we tracted all day long but it was way fun! Also I offered to help this lady take down her Christmas lights and she actually let me, finally someone in Houston let me help them! She was Hispanic so I got to try out some of my Spanish and I told her we were missioneros from La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias so I felt pretty cool doing that. I got to speak Spanish twice to people on Saturday it probably wasn't good Spanish and probably didn't make sense at parts but they got what I was trying to say and for some reason the Spanish people love it when you try to speak their language.
I had a really spiritual experience last night. So it was around 7 p.m. and all of our appointments fell through so we decided to knock some doors. Elder Hill felt impressed to knock some doors on one side of this apartment complex. Elder Hill would do the bottom doors and Elder Finlinson and I would do the top doors (thought it would be best because we didn't want to scare people since it was late and there were 3 of us) But we are knocking and we are getting ITL's when I knock on this door and a guy answered and immediately slammed the door in our face. Elder Finlinson felt bad after this since we were waking up some people since it was late and he wanted to skip the last door on that floor since the lights were out so he starts heading down stairs. But I got the impression to knock on this door so I did and I see lights flick on and I prepared myself for the worst, fearing I might have woke up this person. Then a black man answers the door and I tell him that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and we want to share a message about Him and our Heavenly Father and how they have provided a plan for us to live with our families forever and asked if he would be interested. And this man immediately let us in, so all of us go into this man's home and it turns out this man (Del Denis) is a member! He joined the church 15 years ago in Mississippi but "back slid" from the church. Then he moved to Houston and has attended churches like Church Without Walls and Kingdom Hall but never felt the way he did when he attended with the Latter-day Saints. Hefeels like since we knocked on his door this is his wake up call to "come back to his lost brethren" and we showed him The Restoration DVD and he loved it and we are going to visit with him and teach him the lessons again. But I am so grateful that I was able to be in tune with the spirit and find this man. I am so grateful that I am on my mission in the Texas Houston Mission and not at home where I could have missed this miracle.
Love y'all hope all is well.
-Elder Barton
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